


All These Paper Planes

by AvengingPhoenix



Category: Night at the Museum (Movies)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - College/University, Hurt/Comfort, Love, M/M, Mutual Pining, nerds
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-28
Updated: 2017-04-28
Packaged: 2018-10-24 22:07:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10750770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvengingPhoenix/pseuds/AvengingPhoenix
Summary: Napoleon is an outcast, a foreign exchange student. Alongside his two friends, Ahkmenrah and Octavius, they will discover that life and love may not always be easy but it is worth it. And thank the Gods for paper planes.





	All These Paper Planes

**Author's Note:**

> Hello my fellow NatM fans! It took me a long time to finish this and I was aiming for a one shot but this is most likely gonna be part of a series. This was largely inspired by Stephanie Mabey's I Know You're Out There. I heard this song and my mind immediately went to Napoleon/Al and well...here we are.  
> Also, this is not beta read so any mistakes are mine. Let me know if anything major needs fixing.
> 
> Enjoy!

The busy streets of New York were crowded as always, that much was a given. People talking on their phones, others pushing through the crowds trying to get to where they needed to be, and some stood to take in the sights.

No one noticed the lonely young man staring down at the crowds on the balcony of his loft. He rested his head on his arms, sadness weighing down his heart. The sadness isn’t what bothered him though, it was the cutting feeling of loneliness that had gripped his heart and wouldn’t leave him.

A city full of people and he was still alone. Unnoticed and uncared for.

All he wanted was for someone to be there for him, someone to care for him and accept him as he was.

 _“No one will ever care for you! You miserable rat!”_ He flinched as old memories resurfaced.

He shook his head, it was best not to dwell on that particular dark part of his life. This city was his fresh start.

He didn’t want to squander it in self pity.

Yet...

He wanted someone to be with, someone that could understand him and accept him. Brokenness and all. He in turn would treasure them with all he had.

 _‘Look at them...they do not know what it is they have.’_ He stared out at the couples as some stopped and argued, others walked hand in hand, and some talked on their phones.

Sighing he walked back to the table and tried to write out some letters for his family. He tapped the calligraphy pen on the table as he thought of what to say to his father and mother. His thoughts continued to drift until he began to doodle on the paper instead, tiny little caricatures. A capuchin monkey, an easter island head, and various others that seemed to pop into his head. He began to add a letter underneath each picture. It was the secret language he had created as a child.

One, by now, he knew by heart.

Soon enough the page was almost filled with doodles and he switched it out for another paper.

This time he began to write out every thought that had been running through his mind as of late. He wrote it out in his mother tongue, French, first and then used the key that he had created to encrypt the message.

One that he only knew.

His secret.

The page he’d been writing on was scrapped and he started again. This time he organized his thoughts and let his feelings flow onto the paper through the pen.

He wrote about his sadness, his frustration, and his loneliness. He wrote about his fears most of all. The fear of being alone and never finding love. Being doomed to become like his father and marrying without love.

He ended up with ten pages. Ten pages full of heartache and pain, yet there was also hope...hope for love and a happier life. Some of them only had a sentence and various sketches on them and others had paragraphs. He poured his heart and soul into it all.

After he ran out of ideas on what to write he folded up the papers into airplanes and set them on the edge of the balcony.

His nanny had taught him everything he knew. She was more of a mother to him than his own mother. One day when he was around ten, he had gotten angry and had hit another kid. His parents had yelled and struck out at him and had sent him to his room. His nanny had come into his room later that night and had comforted him and cleaned him up. She then taught him that violence was not an answer and that if he ever felt the need to release his anger or fear it shouldn’t harm others.

That night she sat him down and had him write out what he was feeling. He’d watched as she then folded them up and instructed him to send the planes out the window.

“Write it all out and just let them go.”

She passed away when he was nineteen but he never forgot her and all that she had taught him.

It quickly became something he did when he felt helpless and unsure of what to do. He let it all go and watched his worries literally scatter in the air and disappear.

And that is what he was going to do now.

“Just let it go and move on Napoleon.”

He resumed his watch on the people below as he smoothed out and folded up the edges. Holding up the first plane against the sky he sent the plane out into the sky. One by one the planes took flight and a sense of peace washed over him.

He once again rested his head on his arms and watched as the sun disappeared behind a towering building.

\---

The paper planes scattered into the air and flew with the breeze that drifted through the city. The planes began to descend from their short flight one by one they started to touch down onto the ground.

Unnoticed, the planes were mostly ignored by New York’s pedestrians. No one seemed to see or care about the planes, all too distracted or busy to let themselves become distracted.

The first plane unfolded mid flight and drifted a short distance and smacked right into the face of an unsuspecting young man.

Alphonse cried out as he was temporarily blinded, arms flailing as he lost his balance. He received some grumbling comments from the other pedestrians as they were hit by his arms.

“Sorry! Sorry!” Alphonse quickly ripped the offending paper off of his face, glaring down at it.

He tilted his head as he registered what he was looking at.

“What the hell..?” The page was filled with tiny drawings with letters underneath them.

He looked around, eyes searching the crowd for any sign of where the paper came from. His gaze settled on a second plane as it touched the ground, only to be trampled by someone. Lurching up onto his feet he weaved through the crowd to the crashed, and subsequently crushed, plane and picked it up.

The same doodles greeted him, yet these ones had no letters underneath them and weren’t in the same order. Lifting the first page he glanced at it, lips pursing in thought.

“It’s a cipher...huh.” Blinking he grinned and was promptly smacked in the face by another paper plane.

Snatching the plane before it hit the ground, Al looked up to see where the planes were coming from. More planes floated in the air, drifting through the air. Some planes did some loops as a blast of air hit them.

Surprised shouts filled the air as he pushed past people to get to the planes before they touched ground. When he couldn’t see anymore falling, he pressed the ones in his hands close and ran as fast as he could back to his home in Brooklyn.

He never could resist a good mystery.

\---

Stretching, Napoleon gathered his things and made his way inside. Dropping his stuff on the nearest table, he took the stairs two at a time and made his way up to the second floor. Getting ready for bed, he pulled off his clothes, leaving only his boxers.

He brushed his teeth staring at his reflection,a small frown marring his features. He looked in the mirror and didn’t like what he saw, he never did.

“Don’t look at me like zat.” His thick,French accent was embarrassing.

He had always, always struggled with his image, trying to become perfect so that one day his father would approve. It was times like that, that his nanny would reassure him.

_“Be brave mon coeur, you will find someone who will love you with all their heart. Before you find them you must learn to control your temper, oui? You will be incapable of a healthy relationship otherwise. This is something your father has not learned, regrettably. You cannot let your anger take a hold of you, ma petite loutre.” Napoleon remembered how she would hug him after saying such comforting words and kiss his forehead goodnight. “It does not mean that you won’t have bad days, do not misunderstand. But you cannot let that control you.”_

_“Why?”_ _He would ask, sad eyes blinking up at her.”It feels like it’s a storm that won’t go away.”_

_He tapped a finger on his chest._

_“We go through bad times in our life and through them we learn to appreciate the good. That is how life is. Where there is darkness, there is light. Eventually the storm will pass and you will greet the new day. Learn to love life for all that it gives, for that is what makes you who you are.”_

Finishing up in the bathroom he crawled underneath the bed covers and turned on his phone. With a few taps on the screen, the notes too moonlight sonata drifted into the nearly empty loft. Sighing he let the music wash over him as he drifted to sleep.

\---

Al was hunched over his desk, scribbling furiously onto a fresh piece of paper as he worked on transcribing the papers he had found. So far he had managed to transcribe three of the shorter pages and as it was...

He was fascinated.

Whoever had written these notes was a master at calligraphy. The flowing script was magnificent, not to mention what the mysterious person wrote about. It sent his heart racing with excitement, yet a sadness filled him as well. Whoever this person was they were...heartbroken. They were hurting yet they still wrote with a hopeful tone that one day things would get better.

“What are you doing?”

Al jumped, almost falling out of his chair. Whipping around, he glared at his younger sister. Mafalda Capone only grinned at her eldest brother.

“Dat’s none of your business Mafalda.” He angled his body to cover the papers as Mafalda leaned around him to steal a glance.

“Ooooh, are they love letters?”

“No, now get outta here.” He waved a hand in dismissal.

“No, I wanna see.” She darted around him making a grab for the closest page.

Snatching it from her, he gathered up the papers and hunched over them protectively.

“Ma! Mafalda won’t leave me alone!”

“Mafalda! Leave your brother be.”

Mafalda stamped her foot. “But he’s hidin’ something ma!”

“It’s not pornography is it?!”

“MA!!!” Al’s face burned a bright red, unable to quite believe what exactly his mother had just said. “I don’t have stuff like that!”

His mother appeared in the doorway of his room, lips pursed as she eyed up her son. Al’s shoulders hunched as her gaze landed on the dirty, rumpled papers in his arms. She tried to hide her amusement at her red faced son.

“Mafalda, come. Leave your brother be.”

Glancing between her mother and brother, Mafalda sighed. “Oh, alright...”

Trailing behind her mother she left Al’s room, stealing one last glance at her brother and his new secret.

 _‘Just wait ‘til I tell Rose.’_ She grinned and ran in search of her sister, a plot to get those papers already forming in her mind.

Turning back to the papers Al bit back a sigh. His mother was just as bad as his sisters. It’s probably where Mafalda and Rose got it from in the first place...

\---

Rubbing his eyes and stifling a yawn, Al made his way to his first class of the day. It had taken him all night but he had managed to transcribe all of the papers he had found. Upon finishing, he’d felt happy...yet, he felt sad. He was sad for the person that had written those notes. The sheer amount of pain that was described in some of them had let him speechless.

Whoever had written these notes was what his Ma called a “wounded soul”. He wished he could help the writer of these notes. He had no idea how to do that or even how to even find them.

He shook his head. He had to focus on his studies, he needed to graduate and get a good paying job. He had to help his Ma. She was struggling to make ends meet as it is, feeding him and his siblings. They were nine kids total, he was the oldest.

His father was a no show, disappeared a year after Rose was born and his mother has to pull extra hours at the tailor shop just to earn enough for them to survive.

Contrary to his sister’s beliefs, he was no fool.

He knew he had to do something to ease the pressure off his mother. She worked hard to provide for them and he wasn’t going to stand by and watch her burn out. He wasn’t going to watch his mom fall apart.

Never again.

Al’s eyes widened as the foreign exchange student from France rounded the corner. Heart pounding, he ducked his head and hurried off to class.

 _‘Napoleon...God! Why’d I have to ever lay eyes on you?’_ His cheeks burned a deep red as he tried to even his breathing.

Making it to his class he dropped onto the first available seat and buried his nose in his book as he waited for class to start.

He wondered if he would ever have the guts to even talk to the cute Frenchman.

\---

Napoleon let his mind wander as the teacher rambled on about brainwaves or something. He honestly couldn’t say. He stopped paying attention ages ago.

His thoughts drifted back to the planes he sent off last night. He’d like to imagine that someone had found at least one of them, some mysterious stranger that would piece together what was written on them. Someone smart, kind, and courageous.

A small smile graced his features as he settled his gaze on the whiteboard.

_‘Wouldn’t that be something? Like in all those romance movies, one day I could meet someone that’ll love me.’_

The rest of the day morning seemed to pass by in a blur. By the time lunch rolled by Napoleon was feeling a bit better. Having lunch with his only two friends in the world made him feel so much better.

Octavius and Ahkmenrah waved Napoleon over. Octavius’ face was, oddly enough, red. Napoleon raised a brow at Octavius as he set his tray on the table. His only response was a frustrated groan and Octavius slamming his head into the table with a resounding smack.

“That bad?” Napoleon inquired gently, afraid to upset his friend further.

“Yes.”

“Come now, it wasn’t that bad.” Ahkmenrah patted his back in a show of comfort.

“Yes it was!” Octavius hissed, face turning a shade darker. “I ran into him like some buffoon and proceed to choke on my own tongue when he asked me and I quote... “Are you alright there, partner?” I ran away! I didn't even have the courage to answer him.”

“Zat is rough mon amie. But at least he noticed you. Oui?” Napoleon popped a strawberry in his mouth, chewing thoughtfully.

“I suppose so...”

“Napoleon is right, Octavius. At least he’s noticed you now. And perhaps something good can come from it?” Ahkmenrah said.

“You think so?” He glanced up from the table.

“Of course.” They both replied.

Octavius locked eyes with Jedediah Smith, aka the cutest kid in the school. Well, at least to him he was. Jedediah was being fawned over by a group of girls. His two friends also with him, being bombarded by girls.

The Gods hated him, they truly did.

Octavius could feel his face heat up again and he found it hard to breath. It was as if the air were being sucked out of the room.

Jedediah’s smile faltered as a girl pushed closer to him, trying to gain attention.

The moment was gone.

“By the Gods...” Octavius breathed out.

“Yeah...you said it."

“Agreed.” Napoleon sighed.

Ahkmenrah’s gazed was directed to Jedidiah’s friend, Larry Daley. Larry was insanely rich, he’d invented a bunch of gadgets and now he owned a company yet he was forced to finish school before he could completely run his company.

Napoleon’s gaze was focused on Al Capone. He was...he was.

“Amazing.” Napoleon sighed.

As the popular trio were swept away by the fawning girls the foreign trio’s shoulders slumped. They sat in silence, Ahkmenrah and Napoleon eating their food and Octavius resting his forehead on the table.

“Oh... what’s the point?!” Octavius slammed his palms onto the table.

Ahkmenrah and Napoleon jumped, startled by their friend's outburst.

Getting up he took his tray, dumped it’s contents and ran out the door and to the field.

Sharing a look the Ahkmenrah and Napoleon dumped their food and took off after their friend.

None of them noticed the gazes following them as the door closed behind them.

\---

“Man...could he be anymore perfect?” Jedidiah’s southern lilt broke the silence that had descended between them.

“Who? The Roman kid?” Larry asked.

“His name is Octavius!”

“Relax about it, man.” Al chuckled as he tossed a straw at Jed. “Plus, Napoleon is much better.”

“Says you.” Jed growled, glaring darkly at his friend.

“Guys. Guys. Guys. I think we can all agree that Ahkmenrah is the greatest.” Larry burst out laughing at the indignant looks on their faces.

“No he’s not!” Jed and Al launched their napkins at him.

Larry only laughed harder at them, hands clutching his middle. A burst of movement in the corner of his eye drew his attention.

His laugh cut off. “Hey. Hey, guys. _Look._ ”

Jed and Al stopped bickering at the tone in their friend’s voice. Looking over they saw Octavius take off and run out of the cafeteria towards the fields. Napoleon and Ahkmenrah on his heels.

“Guys...they're headed towards the _football_ fields.” Larry gulped.

“And? Who cares? Octy looked upset, what’s more important than that?” Jed grumbled, hand gripping the edge of the table, eyes trained on the doors Octavius just ran out of.

“Who cares? Da football players are out there right now!” Al hissed. “Ya know how they are when it comes to their practice.”

“Shit.”

They scrambled out of their booth as the made to follow their crushes, hoping they weren’t too late.


End file.
